Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Beauty, Power and Death
by LiamJGreen
Summary: Buffy Summers died, and Kendra was called. Kendra died, and Faith was called. Buffy passed again, and no one was called. Only Faith's death can bring forth a new slayer, but did it ever happen? In 2002, Charly Adams is blessed with the strength, the speed, the power. What does her future hold for her? What's happened to Faith? How will Buffy and Charly survive the next battle?
1. Prologue

**Beauty, Power and Death**

**Prologue**

In every generation, there is a chosen one; the Slayer - a paradigm of beauty, power and death. She alone must stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. However, thanks to Buffy Summers, the Slayer no longer has to fight independently. Throughout history, a Slayer has been chosen, and she has battled evil on her own. Maybe this is why Slayers die at such an early age? Not Buffy Summers. Buffy may fall, but she always lives in the end.

Buffy has never fought alone - she's always had her friends by her side: Willow Rosenberg, the witch, and Xander Harris, the hero. Nevertheless, more importantly, she's never been the only slayer. Buffy was killed at the hands of the macabre vampire, The Master, then Xander brought her back to life. Even though she was still alive, the Slayer line continued - with Kendra Young. However, Kendra had a brief life. Drusilla, an erratic and demented vampire, killed Kendra; she didn't come back. Not soon later, Faith Lehane became the next Slayer. The two Slayers - Buffy and Faith.

The chosen ones.


	2. Chapter One - The Chosen One

**Chapter One - The Chosen One**

Is Faith Lehane undervalued? You could say she is, you could say she isn't. The answer may vary amongst different people; if you were to ask someone like Buffy or Willow this question, they'd sharply inquire - 'and whose fault is that?' Good point. Is it Faith's fault that she's currently in a prison cell, with her incredibly unique powers being wasted? Or is it Buffy's fault? Was it Buffy's prodigious power and experience as a slayer that sparked Faith's jealousy, and simple need for attention? Well, it doesn't matter now; too much has happened since the day Faith was chosen. Even though Buffy is the one who kills the vampires, fights the demons and saves the world - Faith is still the chosen one. Maybe not the only one, but she is. Faith Lehane, thechosen one, in a prison cell. 2002.

As Faith rests on her sordid cell bed, she wonders what Buffy's doing at the moment. Saving the world from an apocalypse? Staking a vampire at Sunnydale Cemetery? The truth is, she's at home thinking about her friend Willow. The last time Buffy saw her, she was trying to end the world, whilst going for a bit of a gothic look. Now Willow's in England, recovering with the help of Giles. Faith is completely unaware of anything that's happened to Buffy recently. She'd rather be with Buffy than in this place though.

She's becoming incredibly tired of the same sights every day. She wakes up every morning to her cellmate, Shelly, urinating four feet away from her. She doesn't energise herself in the morning with a steaming, soothing coffee; instead, someone tries to kill her at breakfast for giving said person a dirty look. This doesn't bother her too much, seeing as nobody has a chance at beating her in a fight. A fight is pretty much the only thing that entertains her at the prison, even though she prefers her solitude.

At night she stares out of her cell window, decorated with three thick, black bars. Moonlight often shines through it, surreptitiously reminding Faith of the world beyond the prison gates. Each night when she lies on her bed, remotely pondering, she personifies the window bars into her angels and demons. The angels, uncannily reminiscent of Angel, remind her to stay in the prison for her own good: to reform into someone much greater than a killer. The demons simply tell her how god damn bored she is, how much she'd love to just go out clubbing, or hell, even eat a decent meal.

But on this one night, when Faith is staring at those sombre window bars, something happens. Someone appears. Faith's eyes are shut, but she feels a presence near her. Not a dangerous one, but a woman is definitely looking at her. It's not Shelly, she thinks. 'Shelly, are you ok?' She asks, with no sudden response. Then someone replies.

An almost disinterested voice laughs from the corner of Faith's cell.

'Your friend's not here, Slayer.' Faith animates immediately, and stands up to look at this enigmatic woman.

Faith has never met her before; her hair is light - brown, with plenty of blonde highlights. An arrogant smile drapes across the woman's face, her countenance is completely beautiful - it contrasts with the strong evil inside of her; the misanthropy seeps from her body like a strong stench of body odour.

'Who the hell are you?' Faith says, clenching her fists.

'Oh relax honey, I'm not here to fight.'

'Then what _are_ you here for?'

'To talk. To get to know the Slayer.' Faith becomes confused, this woman is sitting on a plastic chair in the corner of her cell, doing nothing but looking at her nails.

'You didn't answer my question,' Faith demands.

'Oh my god, will you shut up? I am Glorificus. A god. Beings all over the universe bow down to me so respect my presence you petty Slayer.'

'So I can call you?'

'Go with Glory.'

Faith should feel threatened by Glory, but she doesn't. She feels weirdly comfortable around her. Well, they're both beautiful women, clouded by evil. Faith dismisses the thought - that's not her anymore. But, this woman... this woman is evil. She's demonic. Faith is secretly impressed by the 'god' speech.

'So, Glory... I know I don't exactly look super busy here but, I really don't want to talk to you. I don't think you're the god of good fortune and peace, and something tells me you're not here to bring me candy and help me get out of this place? Speaking of, how did you get in here? I didn't even hear you come in.'

'That doesn't matter Faith...'

'How do you know my name?!' Faith cuts in.

'Do _not_ interrupt me!' Glory stands up in anger, then shakes her body to release the stress. 'Jesus, you slayers are just _not_ my cup of tea.'

'I'm not like Buffy!' Faith snaps.

'Now, that's true! You're not,' she replies with a smile on her face. Glory walks slowly towards Faith, eventually peering right into her eyes. Only a few centimetres separates the two women. 'you're not some trashy do-gooder like Buffy; you're a cold-blooded, rampaging killer.'

This comment infuriates Faith. This woman doesn't know her at all - how dare she make such an accusation? Faith punches Glory, only to watch her fist go straight through her non-corporeal head - like she's not even there.

'Are you a ghost or somethin'?' Faith's anger appears to transfer into Glory, and it doubles in ferocity. Glory's eyes turn completely black, as if she's been possessed.

'Oh no. I'm way more than that. Unfortunately, that other whiney embodiment of that so called _power_ of yours killed this god a long time ago. Well actually, interesting story - her _watcher _killed me! A watcher! But anyhow, I'm _more_ than a god. I'm evil. I created it; I breathe it, I am it. So let's just get to the point little girl. Whilst your powers are puny compared to mine, you're useful. I'll get you out of this hellhole if you get rid of that unsightly slayer and her lightheaded friends.'

'I wouldn't ever hurt them. Not again... Now get out.'

'Such a pity,' The First Evil walks through the cell bars, and turns to face Faith, 'you could walk out of here just as easily as I can. But, it appears you've chosen the wrong time to turn to the side of righteousness.' Faith moves towards the cell bars, and tries to look as threatening as possible. The First continues, 'It's coming. _I'm_ coming. You're all going to die, and because you've pissed me off - you're first.' Glory dexterously transforms into Mayor Richard Wilkins. Faith freezes. This man was the only father figure she ever had. Even though she's now fully aware of his inexcusable and wicked personality, she...loves him. She regains her mental stability, but loses all physical strength. She falls to the floor, sitting there like a weeping girl.

'Goodnight Faithy,' Richard whispers, before teleporting away.


	3. Chapter Two - Goodnight, Faithy

**Chapter Two - Goodnight, Faithy**

A team of paramedics (whose names are Sarah, James and David) jumped out of their parked ambulance, and climbed into the back, to receive a wheeled body tray. The ambulance was situated next to a women's prison - Faith's prison. As you can imagine, their journey here was not an inexperienced one. They come here often; they pretty much know every prisoner, including Faith - who is evidently and somewhat generally, the predator, not prey. As the uniformed group set out through the prison, an audible and alarmist conversation between them quite often included, 'Faith!'

After ten minutes of procedures, the paramedics left on their journey to the closest hospital, with a dark-haired brunette girl in the back of the ambulance.

'I can't believe Faith would go this far; this girl was obviously quite a hitter,' said James.

'Yeah, I'm sure it was self defence, it always is,' remarked Sarah in a sarcastic tone, who clearly had no sympathy for prisoners. James felt the need to respond urgently, as someone who knows Faith Lehane quite well (not well enough to know she's the slayer).

'Faith wouldn't permanently re-arrange someone's face if she didn't have a good god damn excuse.'

James spoke the truth - Faith did have a good excuse; the girl in the back of the ambulance, who proceeded to die seven minutes later, would've killed Faith if the opposite didn't happen first. The _truth_ is that the beautiful brunette, by the name of Jackie, was completely blameless. Maybe not blameless to the charge of robbing a Californian bank, but when Jackie woke up in her prison cell that morning, she had no idea that she would attempt to murder Faith that day. Or, that she would be killed herself. The First Evil controls everything; it manipulates hate, anger, murder, death...in everyone. It forced Jackie to kill Faith, but it failed.

You can imagine the mood that Faith was in when the paramedics ran past her cell - first she gets a visit from the ultimate evil, and then she has to kill a seemingly innocent girl to save herself. She started to wonder if she should have let Jackie slip that knife in her gut. Buffy did it, and she turned out OK. Not that she cared if she lived. She just needed this nightmare to end. She wanted Richard to give her that present once more, and then stab her with it. Stab her so hard that she would never wake up. Ever. Not this time.

As Faith started to fall asleep that night, the same image kept rolling through her head. The thought was so strong that she felt it in her eyeballs; a constant migraine thudded her brain awake; the moonlight shone through her eyelids like piercing blades, blades that The First cast upon her. The image she could not escape was that of Richard, inhumanly wishing her goodnight, and using that archaic nickname he called her so regularly. If a part of him wasn't in The First (which she knew was true), she had no doubt it would kill her with its immeasurable skill, the same skill it used to seep into Richard's thoughts and mind. She was going to die. She no longer questioned it. Every slayer dies youthfully.

The next morning, Faith didn't wake up; she educed no sleep. She went to eat breakfast after watching Shelly stroll out of bed, in of course a depressed state. Just as a forkful of batched-cooked scrambled eggs entered her mouth, they came. The cloaked ones, with no eyes. She knew they were there; she watched them slaughter a few helpless women before intervening. She fought and fought for ages, seemingly losing tons of stamina and strength. She assumed she had killed a few because of the way she felt, but only one Bringer had fallen. She punched one in his eyeless face, and slammed his head against her knee, before using a butter knife to stab his neck. Faith fly kicked another Bringer in the face, only for him to punch her in return. He pulled out a long blade, and swung at her. The blade was one inch away from her stomach before she grabbed it and threw it at his face. She kicked him once more, and he elbowed her head.

She turned and stabbed another Bringer a few times in the stomach. Her focus rejuvenated; her colossal slayer powers were back, giving her body immaculate feeling. She would protect the rest of the women in this canteen, and be a hero to herself and the world.

Faith went in for a punch, and while her fist was in mid-air, she felt...a feeling. It turned into excruciating pain, which helped her realise what it was. A stab. Fatal - in the back. She looked down at her stomach, and was greeted by a stream of red liquid.

_Not mine, surely_? She thought, as she fell to the floor. _Goodnight Faithy_ repeated in her head a dozen times until her brain shut down, into a million blank pieces.


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter 3 - The Dismal Denouements of Mortality **

Buffy Summers and her sister, Dawn, were sitting at the table in their dining room. They ate fried chicken that Joyce had bought for them so kindly. Joyce was preparing dinner for herself in the kitchen - she wasn't ever a big fan of fast food. The doorbell rang, and Buffy got up immediately; Joyce was on her way to the door, but Buffy demanded she went back to the kitchen - not because of a chance of danger outside their house, but because of pure virtue. Buffy opened the door and Faith stood there, smiling with gaiety and confidence. Buffy smiled back, and Faith let herself in.  
'Hello Faith,' Buffy exclaimed.

'Hey B.' Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but Faith kicked in with vivaciousness. 'Oh sweet, is that chicken?'

Before Buffy could finish saying, 'Um, yeah,' Faith had already started to feast on fried chicken.

'Hey Dawn, how're things goin?'

'Great, you?'

'Five by five, as always!' Faith already finished a chicken wing. Buffy sat down next to her, and asked if there was her reason for her visitation. 'Nah, B - just thought I'd drop by!' Buffy couldn't help but be a little confused, but she liked Faith's presence anyway. It always brought radiance to the Summers' household.

A few minutes passed before an awkward silence began, which Dawn gleefully decided to end. 'What's the meaning of life?' She queried. It was assumed she was talking to Buffy; even Faith looked to her for the answer. Buffy looked down at the table for a moment of spiritual focus.

'Dawnie, life is short. Especially for me. Especially for everyone. In 70 odd years, you'll be in the ground, whether you like it or not. The meaning of life is quite simple - it's to live. All you have to do is be happy. Be happy and honest, and your life will have meaning.'

Faith looked down at her food, almost pulling a guilty face. Dawn was expected by both of them to laugh at Buffy's answer, even though Buffy was being very serious. However, Dawn didn't laugh, snigger or smile. She understood. She was only 13, but she understood...that life is too short. Her mum, Joyce Summers, leaned against the doorway of the dining room.

'Buffy's right Dawn. For all you know, Buffy or Faith could be gone tomorrow, so could I. Live life to the fullest, don't regret anything.' Joyce was also being incredibly serious for someone who was high on Band Candy a few days earlier.

Back in 2002, the memory of this anecdote finished in Dawn and Buffy's mind. It's the first thing they thought about, as soon as they saw Faith on her hospital bed. Buffy, Dawn and Xander were all there, gazing over her comatose body. This was obviously quite reminiscent for all of them, but this time it was worse. The doctors had told Buffy that Faith could die any second; her body was not recovering or healing at all - she would most likely fall out of the coma soon, then vanish away. Dawn and Buffy were both still thinking about what Buffy had said about life those many years ago. They both knew it was a memory built by the monks, but it had significant meaning. Was that meaning of life a way of the monks? Faith's almost cold body just accentuated to Dawn how valuable her life is. They wondered if this memory also flowed through Faith's resting brain.

Buffy looked shockingly upset for someone with such a bad relationship with Faith. So did Dawn. Xander intervened in the deadly silence, 'Coffee?' Neither Buffy nor Dawn replied, but he left to get beverages anyway.

Faith's body looked completely lifeless. It was almost freezing, and there was no sound of breath. The only thing Buffy and Dawn could hear was the slow beeping through the heart-rate monitor. In a space of ten seconds, the beeping from the monitor increased rapidly. It got quicker and faster, like thumping from a nearing monster in a horror film. Suddenly, Faith's head and torso shot up from her bed, and an immense amount of blood splurged from her mouth. Buffy and Dawn jumped back, and Buffy ran to get a nurse. Dawn watched Faith as she grabbed onto her intense wound on her stomach and cried with pain. Her wailing woke up the whole hospital; her screams stood up every hair on Dawn's body. A nurse and a doctor arrived, and pushed Faith into a lying position. They injected her with tranquilizers, and her crying slowly came to a halt.

The deadly energy conveyed into Dawn, and tears streamed from her once bubbly eyes. She could just about handle the thought of a still, dead body - but to see someone in so much pain, even Faith...she couldn't hold back her sadness. Dawn left the ward and fell into Buffy's arms; Buffy understood her pain. Death is not an easy thing to handle...unless you're a Slayer.

Buffy watched the doctors hover around Faith through a large window, that peered into Faith's ward. She could still hear the heart-rate monitor. It was beeping progressively faster...until, it stopped its once-a-second noises and transferred into one long beep. The doctors used a defibrillator several times on Faith's body. Her heart had stopped, and it wasn't starting again.


End file.
